"I am not what you call a civilized man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating.

I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!" - Captain Nemo

"Strike, mad vessel! Shower your useless shot! And then, you will not escape the spur of the Nautilus."- Captain Nemo

"I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the oppressor! Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished, and venerated--country, wife, children, father, and mother. I saw all perish! All that I hate is here!" - Captain Nemo
-- Excerpts from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne

But what has become of the Nautilus? Did it resist the pressure of the maelstrom? Does Captain Nemo still live? And does he still follow under the ocean those frightful retaliations? Or, did he stop after that last hecatomb? Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing the history of his life? Shall I ever know the name of this man? Will the missing vessel tell us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo? I hope so. And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered the sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the Nautilus has survived where so many other vessels have been lost! If it be so- if Captain Nemo still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be appeased in that savage heart! May the contemplation of so many wonders extinguish forever the spirit of vengeance! May the judge disappear, and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea! If his his destiny be strange, it is also sublime. Have I not understood it myself? Have I not lived ten months of this this unnatural life? And to the question asked by Ecclesiastes 3,000 years ago, "That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?" two men alone of all now living have the right to give an answer - CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF. - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

In 1838, the Englishman Wilkes went along the hundredth meridian as far as the sixty-ninth parallel. In 1839, the Englishman Balleny discovered Sabrina Land on the edge of the Antarctic Circle. Then on January 12, 1842, the Englishman James Ross, commanding the Erebus and the Terror, discovered Victoria Land at 76o 56' S. Lat. and 171o 7' E. Long. On the twenty-third of the same month he reached the seventy-fourth parallel, the farthest point attained till then; on the twenty-seventh he reached 76o 8', on the twenty-eighth 77o 32' and on February 2 78o 4'. Later in 1842, he returned but could get no farther than the seventy-first parallel. And then on March 21, 1868, 1, Captain Nemo, reached the South Pole at a latitude of 90o and took possession of this portion of the globe equal in area to a sixth of all known continents.' " Captain Nemo

Professor Aronnax: "You cannot do this! This is uncivilized!"

Captain Nemo: "I am not what is called a civilized man, professor. I have done with society for reasons that seem good to me, therefore I do not obey its laws."

- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

"On the Nautilus men's hearts never fail them. No defects to be afraid of, for the double shell is as firm as iron; no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to carry away; no boilers to burst; no fire to fear, for the vessel is made of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity is the only mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for it alone swims in deep water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the water it reaches absolute tranquillity. There, sir! that is the perfection of vessels! And if it is true that the engineer has more confidence in the vessel than the builder, and the builder than the captain himself, you understand the trust I repose in my Nautilus; for I am at once captain, builder, and engineer." - Captain Nemo